Projects

New sofa cushion covers and repainted the sofa.


Foot and paw prints on canvas to hang in Logan's room.


Pocket for books and my iPhone on the glider in Logan's nursery.


Bibs using receiving blankets that Logan has grown out of.


Little burp cloths for under the chin when Logan is nursing. Fabric by Amy Butler.

Inspiration Fabric Shopping

I had a hard time narrowing down the style of the room and since I have to work with the yellow walls, I thought I would look for drapery/home decor fabric first and work around that. I love the gray and yellow combinations, but I don't want the overall scheme of the room to be "too yellow".

Modern Affair at Spool.

Optic Blossom on Etsy by Amy Butler.

Tonic Living

Hello Kitties give a tour

Helro I'm Kitty. No, I'm Kitty. And we're going to give you a tour of the new guest room.



First, let's revisit what the room use to look like before Keith and Anita moved in!

Before: 2006 - Previous owner - Traditional, forest green molding and white walls. Very un-kitty friendly. But that basket looks like a kitty place to sleep.


After we moved in! Yippee! Bright teal and deep, rich cherry brown. Wow! But a little bright on these kitties' eyes, don't cha think? And a little too cramped for the 4 of us.


Now: Light and airy. Keith and Anita moved into the other bedroom and gave us this bedroom! Hooray! And look! There we are!


And now back to Anita to finish the tour while we enjoy our new room.


Inspired by Pottery Barn, I sewed the paisley patterned duvet cover. The sheets are super soft too. 360 thread count by Sutton Park from Ross. They look baby blue, but they are actually teal which lends a contemporary look.


Next to the bed is a wicker shelf taken from the porch furniture. Here it's being used as a night stand/book shelf. I love the way it looks because it adds charm to the room.


The opposite side of the room.


Lamp-yard sale find $7, 1940 French style mahogany table-Craig's List, Wicker waste basket-Ross $4, New light switch plate-$6 Lowe's.


Bird & Cherry Blossom hot plate - $1 at Goodwill. It's pretty and acts as a coaster.


I was going for a contemporary look in this room, but it naturally evolved to a more traditional style. It looks so peaceful and soothing that I just want to put my head down and stay here forever.


We hope you enjoyed the tour!

Play Dress Up

The neighborhood little girls love to get together and play dress up princesses. Sometimes I see them all fancy with their princess costumes and heels which is the most adorable sight. I had some old dresses that I was about to toss when I thought it would be a great idea to turn them into play dresses.

Before: Size 4 Women's


After: Size 4T


Pretty pretty Princess: Priceless

DIY: Canvas Art

Here's a really quick and easy way to add some color and art to your walls especially if you're renting.



I picked up a yard of fabric $6 (30% off) at JoAnn's and an artist's canvas for $10 (50%). I laid the canvas down and decided where I wanted the pattern to sit.


Cut the fabric leaving 2" over the size of the canvas.


***Practice caution*** Using a staple gun and BOTH hands, hold the gun firmly and staple one edge in the middle. No joke, I watched a girl staple her own hand once, so please be careful especially with the old school staple guns that are all silver and it's not clear which end is the staple end. Do NOT "test shoot" the gun into the air or pointing it towards you or anyone else.


If you've never wrapped a canvas before, this is how you do it. Start on one edge in the middle and staple it. Go to the OPPOSITE edge, pull it super tight and staple it in the center along the edge. Do the same with the 2 other sides.


Do the same at all 4 corners and DON'T bother making it look nice. Just pull it tight and staple. When all 4 corners are stapled, THEN go back and fold the fabric over making a nice corner and staple away around the whole frame.


Viola! Instant art!


Other ideas: Use small, square canvases and use fabrics with different patterns and/or color.

DIY: Nursing Covers

Finally! I can post about these! (I didn't want to post till mommy received them first) When my bloggy pal Tiff posted about these nursing covers, my sew-happy little heart lit up to give these a try. She lives in Europe and doesn't have Etsy, so I told her I would sew them for her. Especially since they retail for $32+Shipping for what is essentially a square piece of fabric with a strap and it would be nice to have more than 1.

I made a casual, neutral gray one for her husband (when he gives a bottle) and a fun polka dotted one for mommy. She says it helps keep baby from being distracted while feeding which is why her husband uses it too.



I eyeballed the dimensions and laid the fabric on my chest/shoulders to gauge the size of the cover. I've met mommy and daddy in person before, so I had an idea of their frame and marked the strap to go from edge of collar bone to collar bone.

The nursing covers have a stiffer piece around the neck to allow you to look at the baby while you nurse. I went in search for something and the ladies at JoAnn's suggested boning which they use to make big hoop skirts (think Gone with the Wind). I sewed a little piece into the top edge.


Using 2 D-rings, I sewed a little "tab" through them on one end and the strap to the other end of the boning.



The strap took more trials than expected. I sewed 3 different straps and lots of ^&*($%^^ before I settled on one that I liked. I'm getting better at the seams now too. Then, sewing the strap to the actual cover was frustrating. Next time, I'll have to think about a better way that will make it look neater. I checked out aprons and straps on bags in stores and they were all sewn similarly which I didn't like. It's a "box" with an "X" in the box. Whatever.



With the fabric scraps, I was able to make a few wipes. The white fabric is a fuzzy soft wash cloth fabric. It's so soft like a puppy I kept rubbing my cheek on it. :)



Oh and meet my new pincushion "Pokey". I cut the elephant out of the fabric I used for my GF's baby shower gifts and stuffed him with pillow filling. Viola!

Pins

If I have to sew, I might as well have some pretty pins to play with. Aren't these pretty?

Ottoman Cover

Sewing instructions to come...

Bed Cover Sewing Project

If you're looking for me, I'm not at home. I'm in the garden! :D

So besides spending every waking moment in the garden, I'm working on finishing up our bedroom. We installed a swing arm lamp, put up some picture frames (photos on order), and now I'm sewing a bed cover. Here's a sneak peak:

A Man's Man's Pad

My husband has a home office devoted to his business and HOBBIES! It's your typical man's man's pad - golf paraphernalia, bowling trophies, tools, computer stuff, and a picture of his beautiful wife (eh hem), but it needed something to finish up the room and tie it together.



My husband's uncle gave him this rocking chair. It's INCREDIBLY comfortable and just needed a new cover. I was surprised how easy this seat cover was. Each cushion took 1 yard of fabric. I kinda just "eyeballed" it, used some 3 dimensional thinking and sewed it together hoping it would work, and it did!



Valance: I actually ran out of fabric to make full on drapes, so I only did a valance which worked out well since the hubs wants to put up some bamboo blinds. I wish I had a pattern because I think it would have been easier. Again, I "eyeballed" it, took some measurements, made some guesstaments, and voila!



With the scrap pieces, I made a runner for the bookshelf. The fabric was such nice quality that the finished product came out really nice. All the edges are nice and crisp.


(Leather "B" and P51D Mustang from Home Goods, beautiful framed wife from Your Dreams :D)

Budget Bathroom Make-Over

For 2 weeks, my bathroom Bland wouldn't stop moaning about how jealous she was of Hip the hallway. Finally, I gave her a make-over, so she would shut her lid.

The Make-Over:

• Sewed a new shower curtain.
• Gave the molding and doors a new coat of white paint in high gloss.
• Replaced the cabinets with new hardware.
• Replaced blinds with matchstick roman blinds.
• Hung some wall decor.

The break-down:
Everything, but the hardware was on sale. It took some time to shop for these things.

• Hardware $2.57/piece - Lowe's.
• Matchstick blind $17.99 - Walmart.
• 3 set of mirrors $14.99 - JoAnn's.
• Paint leftover from living room $23-27 - Home Depot.
• Magnolia picture $1 - The Goodwill Store.
• Fabric $6.38/yard - JoAnn's.

From this picture: The new knobs really give the old cabinets a face-lift. The matchstick blinds give privacy, yet allow a lot of light to get in. The glossy white molding is super shiny and easy to maintain.


This set of mirrors mimic the Celtic pattern that is in the fabric of the shower curtain.


Installing new hardware is easy and takes 2 seconds. Hold the screw from the inside of the cabinet and twist the knob on. While the hardware is off, give your cabinets a thorough cleaning with some non-toxic wood cleaner.

Sewing the shower curtain:


My make-shift pin cushion.


(right edge is top of curtain) The back of the curtain. I sewed 2 pieces of fabric together to give it the width I needed.


When I sewed the 2 pieces together, I was careful that the pattern met up in the same place, so that it looked continuous. I pinned it and sewed slowly.


To give the curtain a crisp corner, I folded the fabric back on an angle. This helps keep the curtain from flaring out when it's hung.


For the top where the curtain rod would go, I folded the fabric over by 4.5". I sewed a line 1" from the edge and then again 3" apart. The 1" is for a little ruffle. The 3" is for the rod. This allowed enough room for the rod to sit comfortable.

The finished curtain is 68"Lx90"W. I should have gone maybe 75"L, so that it could sweep the floor a little and conceal the bathrub, but I made the mistake of not factoring in the extra deep rod pocket space (4.5") when I bought the fabric. Also, 90"W was perfect! Store bought curtains are 70x72 which doesn't give enough "scrunch".

What isn't seen here is that I diligently took off all the hardware on the bathroom door and cleaned the old paint off them. It makes a world of difference in appearance in my opinion.

I have a couple of more things to do:
Sew a tiolet seat cover and mats.
Replace the TP holder with something nicer.
Add more hooks to the back of the door.
Eventually replace the medicine cabinet and put up crown molding.